


Natant

by Silver_Snow_77



Series: Thalassophilia [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Child Neglect, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jack...not so much, Janet isn't great at the mom thing but she tries, Merpeople, Mild Angst, my contribution for Tim's birthday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-13 07:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15359781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Snow_77/pseuds/Silver_Snow_77
Summary: On Tim's fifth birthday, his mother took him somewhere very special.





	Natant

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wintersnight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersnight/gifts).



> This is my first time posting DC fic so I hope y'all enjoy. This was loosely inspired by a chain of asks on iphoenixrising/wintersnight's tumblr back during mermay.
> 
> Beta'd by my favorite butterfly. DC's not her wheelhouse but she still helped immensely. Couldn't have done it without you, bae!

_Natant-swimming or floating in water_

It was a beautiful summer day in Southern France, the kind of day where the sun was hot but not baking the earth below, and pleasantly cool breezes caused fluffy clouds to drift through the sky as they carried the briny scent of the seaside further inland. It was the perfect weather for beachgoers, and thus all the public beaches were teeming with tourists and locals alike, swimming and sunbathing and playing games.

Timothy Drake watched out the window of the car as his mother continued driving further down the road rather than pull over and join the throngs of people along the shoreline. The little boy was almost hypnotized by the sight of a colorful beach ball being bounced about over the heads of a group of children a few years older than him. The kids were racing about where the waves hit the sand, shrieking and laughing as the water crashed against their knees and ankles. He let out a quiet sigh of longing as they left his sight, knowing that his mother had other plans for today.

The drive continued northwards towards the beachside villa that the Drake family was renting, and gradually the sight of people and golden sands was replaced by olive and pine trees, interspersed with lavender bushes and other shrubs that lined the road with bright blooms. It was such a different sight compared to the apartment they owned near Robinson Park, which had little to show in the way of plant life due to rampant pollution and dreary Gotham weather. Tim still marveled at the sight each time, the greenery and brilliant pops of color sticking in his mind’s eye and making him wish that flowers like that could grow outside a greenhouse at home.

They passed the entrance to the cobblestone driveway where they usually turned, and instead took a turn at a fork further up the road. Tim frowned slightly, confused by this turn of events. He wondered where his mother was taking him this time. The nearby village was five miles in the other direction, they had passed the public beaches, and clearly they weren’t meeting his father at the villa, so where in the world were they headed to?

It was his birthday today. Tim had just turned five, and his parents had come back from a month-long trip to Brazil a week and a half ago, staying in Gotham for four nights while going to requisite meetings for Drake Industries and attending two different charity galas. He was allowed to attend the first one until eight pm, a full hour later than his usual bedtime, but the novelty quickly wore off when the only other child present was more than twice his age and had no interest in talking to a little boy.

Tim had been prepared for them to set out again and leave him with Ms. Mac as they usually did, and resigned himself to having little more than a phone call and a small pile of presents (usually books) left behind for him to open under the housekeeper’s watchful eyes. The announcement that they were taking a short trip to France and bringing him with them had schooled and delighted him. As much as he liked the presents he received that morning, nothing could compare to the sheer joy he felt at getting to spend time with his parents.

Tim had never left Gotham before, so the flight to Paris and the subsequent train ride to the Côte d’Azur was an all-new and exciting experience for the child. His French was less than perfect, but people smiled at his overly-lisped r’s and occasional stutter. Several of the ladies they met in the village had cooed over how cute he was, and his father took a picture of his blushing face as a matronly older woman who sold ice cream pinched his cheek.

Twenty minutes later, Janet pulled off the road into a small clearing, parking and exiting the vehicle before opening his door. She smiled in that special way of hers, not the sly shark smile she would give before a particularly backhanded insult towards an irritating board member, but a softer, secretive one he only ever saw when the two of them were alone. There was a bag tucked under her left arm, but it was closed and he couldn’t quite tell what was in it.

“Come along, Timothy. I have a surprise for you,” she said, and Tim could feel his nerves melting away as he all but bounced out of his seat in excitement, practically falling out of the car in his hurry to exit. His mother laughed, low and bright with a flash of teeth, and he smiled sheepishly back at her.

Janet held out a hand for her son to take, and held him gently but firmly as she led him into the treeline and along a barely-there dirt path. Tim was very careful to walk just behind her instead of running ahead like he wanted. He didn’t need the embarrassment of tripping on a tree root or getting lost because he was in an unfamiliar place.

The walk itself couldn’t have been longer than five minutes, but the anticipation made it feel like hours. By the time they reached the treeline, Tim was barely restraining his excitement. This entire trip was already like a dream come true, and the promise of an extra surprise from his mother had his heart racing in his chest. What could it be? He’d already gotten a camera, and he’d been promised that his bedtime was going to be moved to eight pm year after next, whatever could it be? Was it the thing in the bag, or something else?

They emerged onto a tiny beach barren of people and cradled between two large stone outcroppings, shielding it from the sight of anyone who might approach by land. Lavender and sea grass bloomed where the dirt gave way to sand, and warm, gentle waves lapped at the shoreline like the neighbor’s fluffy cat when she drank out of her water dish. The sharp salt scent of the water was almost intoxicating to the child, and he swayed in place as he realized why his mama brought him all the way out here, where it was nearly impossible for anyone to see them or otherwise intrude.

“Wow! It’s so pretty, Mama!” He babbled, shaking in place and clutching her hand tightly.

“Of course it is, little one,” Janet said approvingly, eyes darkening with satisfaction. She knelt next to him and pulled him into her arms, and Tim returned the embrace, hugging her as close as he could and breathing in the scent of her—lemon and verbena perfume over the fainter salt and musk of her skin. It calmed him slightly, but the insistent urge to finally swim in the ocean was too strong for him to be fully soothed.

“Are you ready, little minnow?” She whispered, and Tim nodded so hard that he probably looked like the bobble head Father kept on his office desk at home. To be honest, he was on the verge of shouting for joy, but he could barely speak through the lump in his throat. He had waited forever for this!

They carefully folded their shed clothes and set them beneath a small pine tree. Once he was done, Tim looked to his mother, and she waved him towards the water with an indulgent sigh. With that he was off, ignoring the heat of the sands on the soles of his feet in favor of the tantalizing water just a few dozen yards away.

The child paused at the water’s edge, giggling as the water caressed his toes and sucked away the sand around his feet when it retreated. Tm shrieked in glee when he walked in further and was slapped by an incoming wave, and with a few more steps he was up to his waist, feeling the tide run through his fingers as it parted around him. He took deep breath, and then plunged forward into the oncoming wave.

Submerging sent a pleasant buzzing feeling through his whole body. Tim had been in the water before, in several pools and frequently in the bathtub. But the ocean was an entirely new experience, and it was a treat he’d been longing for ever since he was old enough to understand his mother’s tales and feel the pull every time he approached the shore, despite how filthy Gotham Harbor was. 

The buzzing grew stronger and more focused, and he let it wash through him with no reservations. The muffled sounds he could hear grew stronger, the slight shock of the temperature change melted away, and he flexed his legs before placing them together and kicking off from the bottom. The change continued as he adjusted and swam further out, until he opened his mouth and breathed out a rush of bubbles that briefly obscured his vision. It was even better than the times he had practiced before, no burn of chlorine and more space than his bathtub could ever hold!

Something brushed against his arm, and Tim turned to the side with a smile as his mother came into view once more, having taken her time to follow her wayward offspring. He swiveled about to face her, smiling widely and sweetly trilling his happiness as he bumped against her again, much to her amusement. Janet’s long brown hair was elegantly braided back, baring her ears as they elongated and leaving her face visible as she breathed in, sharp fangs peeking out from behind her lips as she closed her eyes in satisfaction.

Janet’s tail was longer than his, as were her talons, and her scales were a deep blue-purple rather than the light red-gold of his own, and Tim’s breath stuttered in his chest again. He so rarely saw his mother in her other shape that he almost forgot how beautiful and awe-inspiring she was beneath the water. She tapped him carefully on the nose and he darted away again, taking it as an invitation to explore. He wasn’t a baby anymore, he no longer needed to cling to her braids when he could swim on his own now.

Tim spent hours examining the shells, crabs, sea grasses, and schools of tiny fish that were in abundance within the cove. The little merboy startled a small octopus at one point and narrowly dodged the spray of ink it left behind, and soon after he succumbed to curiosity again, poking an errant jellyfish and squeaking indignantly when it nearly stung him. He ventured all the way to the edge of the cove, staring intently as a school of damselfish swam past, and he felt his stomach growl in hunger. As tempting as the open waters beyond were, Mama would have to take him back in time for dinner, and he had no experience with swimming in open waters.

Speaking of dinner, they had arrived not too long after lunch, and he had been under for a long time. Tim popped his head above the water to check the path of the sun, shielding his eyes with one webbed hand. The sun was dipping much lower in the sky, though sunset was still a while off, and he decided to start heading back towards the beach.

Just as predicted, he was halfway to shore when he heard his mother’s call echoing off the rocks, and he switched from the slower pace he’d maintained all afternoon to longer, harder strokes with his tail, mimicking his mother and the dolphins he’d seen in nature documentaries. He reached the shoreline within minutes, and all too soon he was breaching the surface with a sharp gasp, his tail splitting apart into legs and his gills closing up as he dragged himself onto the sands. He was human again, wet and tiring as hunger gnawed at his belly.

“Did you have fun, Timothy?” Janet asked, holding out a small towel she had retrieved from the bag.

“It was amazing, mama. So much better than the pool! I wish we could stay longer,” he said. He blushed immediately afterwards, realizing that he was being a bit of a brat. She’d already done so much more than he expected, Mama had said it might be a few years before she would take him into the ocean and here she was, letting him explore a whole cove by himself on his birthday! He hid himself in the towel, drying himself vigorously and then reaching for his clothes with downcast eyes.

“I'm sorry we can’t stay longer, but it’s time to leave now, sweetheart,” she said, stroking his hair gently. “We can always come back later this week, there’s still more things you need to learn about swimming in the ocean.”

“Really?” Tim gasped, “Can we, Mama?”

“Certainly, little minnow. What kind of dam would I be if I didn’t teach my pup the ways of our home?” She teased, and he leaned into her again. The salt-scent was stronger, not just from the water but also her her slowly fading mere traits. It was time to be human again, even though his father knew what they were it was still their special secret, and mother said that it was safer this way.

They left the cove together, and drove back to the villa. Daddy was waiting in the dining room with a wide smile, and a cake with five unlit candles sat in the center of the table. Janet ruffled his hair and kissed his father on the cheek before going to sit down, and soon enough they were tucking into a delicious chef-prepared dinner. 

Tim hadn’t had crab before, but it was chewy and made his mouth water pleasantly, and he ate his spinach without complaining, even if it tasted bitter. The cake was chocolate with vanilla icing that had been dyed red, his favorite color! When Tim blew out the candles, he wished that maybe, just maybe, he could have more birthdays like this one.

“Did you have a good day, son?” Jack chuckled, sitting back and rubbing his slightly bulging stomach.

“Best birthday ever, Daddy,” Tim chirped. He had never been happier in his short life than he was in that moment. And if his wish came true, then it would be close to perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part one of a series depicting merboy Tim. Most of the important preboot canon will be kept, though there will be some minor deviations.


End file.
